Maintenance and repair tasks such as painting, sanding, gutter cleaning, and fixture replacement require the use of specialized tools in hard to reach areas. In many such cases, the user must operate specialized equipment while using a ladder, which can greatly increase the duration and inconvenience of completing the task at hand, as well as being potentially unsafe. If a particular task requires several specialized tools, it is likely that the operator will need to dismount the ladder each time he or she desires to switch tools. Additionally, the ladder must be repositioned often as it provides only a small reachable work space. Many times the ladder simply cannot be placed in an appropriate area to complete a task due to uneven ground or obstacles, which make completing the task near impossible. In other cases, homeowners or service providers must work in areas low to the ground, requiring extensive bending or kneeling, both of which can become physically taxing.
One solution to this problem is the use of extension poles. Fixed length extension poles are common, and are often used for tasks such as painting. In addition, telescoping extension poles are well known in the art, as in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,729,865 and 6,546,596. In a typical telescoping extension pole, an outer tube holds an inner tube which can be extended to a desired length and locked into place. Such devices are useful, for example, as tool extenders to extend the reach of a user for the application of a tool such as a paint roller. These prior art extension poles are not suitable for use with power tools because they do not include power transmission means.
Also known in the art are bar clamps and spreader tools. Spreaders and bar clamps typically consist of two jaws attached to a fixed-length bar. Each jaw has at least one surface that defines a plane that is fixed in parallel to at least one surface of the other jaw, with one jaw attached to one end of the spreader tool or bar clamp in a fixed fashion, and the other jaw attached in an adjustable manner. For bar clamps, the parallel surfaces must face each other, and the adjustable jaw is adjusted to apply compression pressure on one or more objects within the clamp like a vise. For spreader tools, surfaces facing away from each other are required, and the adjustable jaw is adjusted to apply outward pressure, thereby spreading two surfaces or objects apart. Combined bar clamp/spreader tools (e.g., Jet 70412 parallel clamp, Irwin Quick-Grip bar clamp/spreader) are known, in which reversible jaws allow conversion from a bar clamp to a spreader tool, and vice versa.
Many configurations of these devices exist. For example, very simple bar clamps use a single screw axle to attach the jaws in a vise-like fashion. Other bar clamps utilize two or three bars to attach and stabilize the jaws; a screw axle fits snugly with the interior of the adjustable jaw allows force to be applied to move the adjustable jaw, while the additional bars have smooth surfaces and act only to stabilize against rotation and torsion of the jaws. Yet other bar clamps (e.g. Irwin Quick-Grip 5412, Jorgensen 33412 One-Handed bar Clamp, Dewalt DWHT83139 Bar Clamp) utilize a squared bar of fixed length, and use ratcheting grips to move and tighten the adjustable jaw. Other version use bars with notches or holes, and use pins or similar mechanisms to lock the adjustable jaw in place relative to the bar (e.g., Jorgensen style 3700 light-duty bar clamp, Irwin light-duty bar clamp). These lighter-duty versions will often utilize a C-clamp type of structure, with the actual contact surface of the jaw attached to a secondary screw axle to allow fine adjustment of the jaw position.
These prior art bar clamps and spreader tools have limitations. For example, most reversible bar clamps/spreader tools require that you take off the adjustable jaw and flip it around to change the function of the device from spreader to clamp and back again. This can be tiresome and can be made more efficient. Known bar clamps can only apply pressure along one direction and in one orientation. And all of these bar clamps/spreader tools are limited in range according to the length of the bar they utilize. Longer spreader vices are long, unwieldy, and difficult to store. At the same time, the shorter spreader vices can be too short to accomplish the desired task. This requires users to purchase a collection of bar clamps/spreader tools in a variety of lengths.